New Delhi, Nov 14: Noted author, Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information at the United Nations (UN), who is on a visit to India said that he was proud to be an Indian and was even willing to give up his high-flying career to serve his country.
Tharoor, who visited a private school in the capital, delivered lecture on the topic "The United Nations and Iraq: The Current Situation and Future Prospects". It was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Globalization and the Council on Middle East Studies.
"India is not sleeping anymore. I would say that it is a giant which has awoken but (is) not really into its stride,” Tharoor said.
The winner of numerous journalism and literary awards, including a Commonwealth Writer's Prize, Tharoor is the author of numerous articles, short stories and commentaries in both Indian and Western publications. His books include "Reasons of State," a scholarly study of Indian foreign policy; "The Great Indian Novel," a political satire; "Show Business," which was made into the motion picture "Bollywood"; and "India: From Midnight to Millennium," which was published on the 50th anniversary of India's independence.
Tharoor's career with the UN began in 1978 in the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He was head of the UNHCR office in Singapore during the Vietnamese "boat people" crisis. He later served as special assistant to the under-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations and was responsible for operations in the former Yugoslavia. He was appointed to the Office of the Secretary-General in 1998.
Tharoor is an elected fellow of the New York Institute of the Humanities and a member of the advisory board of the Indo-American Arts Council.
Asked if his innate "Indianness" has ever been in conflict with his role as a global citizen, he said, "the two roles never really conflict because there are two good things about being an Indian.
Bureau Report
